UPDATES

GENERAL UPDATES

Multidisciplinary research centre for the Third Sector
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Office of the Third Sector (OTS) in the Cabinet Office and The Barrow Cadbury Trust announced the call for proposals to establish a new independent, multidisciplinary research centre for the Third Sector.

The initiative, which sees a total joint investment of £10.25 million over five years, will establish a single research centre, focused on key third sector issues including the sector’s scale, dynamics, and effectiveness.  The centre will address the need for longitudinal and trend analysis data for the sector, will make the evidence base for the sector more accessible, and will assess the impact of third sector policies.

Insurance
Avon Associates have a new min premium of £1,065. Smaller organisations may now be eligible for cover.
Contact: Andrew Gallop, gallopandrew@btconnect.com
If you would like a full copy of the CRN UK Insurance contacts please request one from pea@crn.org.uk

Recycled MDF
WRAP has commissioned a project to compare products manufactured using recycled medium density fibreboard (MDF) with those made from virgin wood flour. The Scottish firm Impact Laboratories will conduct an extensive test programme to compare the quality of wood plastic composites (WPCs) made of recycled MDF and plastics with WPCs currently on the market. It will also examine the economic and environmental impacts of using the recycled material.

Sustainable Development Action Plan 2007 – 08 Published
The Department of Communities and Local Government has published its ‘Sustainable Development Action Plan 2007 – 08. It is the first Sustainable Development Action Plan (SDAP) published by the new Communities and Local Government. Its purpose is to look forward. In preparing it, the department have built on the foundations set in the 2006 SDAP and have learned from the Sustainable Development Commission review of SDAPs. 

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/631160  

Defra confirms budget cuts
Defra's most senior official has told a parliamentary committee that the department's programmes will face nearly £300 million in budget cuts - but has not revealed exactly what will be affected. DEFRA have outlined £130m of immediate savings and £140m of ’more radical’ cuts but could not confirm which programmes would be affected but that announcements would be made in February.

Recycle Week 2008 dates announced
Recycle Week 2008 starts on Monday 2 June 2008. This is a week of high profile activities focusing on the benefits of recycling.
 
The annual event, which is now in its fifth year, is organised by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) in partnership with the leading materials recycling organisations, British Glass, Corus, Novelis, PaperChain and Recoup.  Recycle Week is also supported by the national recycling campaigns in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, together with a growing number of local authorities.

Plans for Recycle Week 2008 are underway and regular announcements will be made outlining promotional activity and support materials available for local authorities and industry stakeholders to plan their activities well in advance.
www.recyclenowpartners.org.uk  

Partners to replicate USA’s building material re-use centres in the UK required
A team of sustainable materials specialists have received funding from the Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse to set up Building Material Re-use Centres (BRMCs) in the UK. The Centres will provide business and
social opportunities for a wide range of stakeholders and will bring cut price reclaimed building products to small scale trade and the general public while reducing environmental impact. The team are looking for partners from social enterprises, local authorities and the building industry to work with them to deliver the Centres.

Sustainable materials specialists BioRegional, WasteWISE and MASCo are working together to develop a Business Plan Toolkit and e-network for UK BRMCs. The partners aim to support the establishment
of 3 to 5 different Centres across the UK.

The team want to hear from:

Social enterprises and community/training projects looking for expansion
Building sector companies looking to diversify or address waste management
Support organisations wanting to advise/assist projects and/or businesses
Other sector networks
Local authorities and other public sector organisations.

Contact: Ronan Leyden, Reclamation Officer, BioRegional, ronan.leyden@bioregional.com 020 8404 4897
and/or Lewis Herbert, WasteWISE Consultants, HYPERLINK lewis@wastewise.org.uk 01223 411699

Social Enterprise: Winning with 2012
A national project funded by the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) and is comprised of a partnership between Social Enterprise London (SEL) and Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC).

There are two sides of this project:
Representing the voice of social enterprise from across the country to policy-makers and procurers.
Providing up-to-date information, particularly about business opportunities, from policy-makers and procurers to social enterprises across the country.

The project aims to optimise the involvement of social enterprises across England in the development, delivery and legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The over-riding project outcome will be to ensure that social enterprise is positioned as a realistic delivery model for the 2012 contracts.

http://www.sel.org.uk/2012/

Pilot waste Incentive Schemes
Joan Ruddock Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste has announced details of the proposals to provide power for a small number of local authorities to pilot incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling. This will mean that authorities will be able to both positively reward those who recycle and charge those who do not.

A maximum of 5 local authorities will be granted permission to pilot the schemes.  Councils will be able to come forward with schemes to fit local circumstances but they will have to be approved by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and will need to be consistent with the framework set out in legislation. This approach will allow us to monitor the impacts of the pilots will be and report back to Parliament before a decision is made whether to roll them out more widely.  Parliament would have a say in any final decision.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/incentives/index.htm

Classification and reporting of waste
Defra have written to all waste collection authorities in England to relay important information that they should take note of when reporting waste data. It seeks to address the high volume of enquiries that they have received seeking clarification on household and commercial waste. This includes information on the following:

Commercial waste collection arrangements
Reporting arisings from commercial waste
Acceptance of waste at Civic Amenity sites
Waste from places of religious worship, educational establishments & hospitals.
Charities & charity shops
Household Waste Recycling Act.

If any of these areas affect your project then it would be advisable to read the letter (accessible via the link below). We have provided brief notes on some of the points covered however these should be considered in conjunction with full explanations provided in the letter itself.

http://www.yhcoe.rcoe.gov.uk/rce/aio/42466

Local Authorities have to provide or arrange for a service for commercial waste collection and disposal. (6)

There is no legal requirement on a waste authority to accept waste free of charge at Civic Amenity /household recycling sites from any source other than residents in the area. The authority running the site has the right however to accept waste from other sources if it so chooses and it can make a charge for deposit of such waste. Local authorities may see benefit in waiving charges to re-use groups to meet their objectives.

Provided the third party group has an accurate record-keeping system, the authority can count wastes treated or diverted through these (voluntary) groups towards its own waste performance indicators and LATS landfill diversions. (16 – 21)

If the activities of a charity are in connection with the conduct of public religious worship the charity would be entitled to free waste collection as well as free disposal. (24-28)

All waste arising from premises forming part of a school, university, other educational establishment, hospital or nursing home that is owned and operated by that organisation is household waste. This can have a charge for collection but not disposal. Commercial activity from within these sources however will attract charges for both collection and disposal of this waste. (30-34)

Waste from charity shops should be treated the same as waste from charities, namely as household waste. (38-40)

The Household Waste Recycling Act (HWRA) placed a duty on all English waste authorities to make arrangements for the collection of at least two types of recyclable waste together or individually separated from the rest of the household waste by 31 December 2010. This duty extends to household waste listed for which a only a charge for collection can be made, including charities, prison or other penal institution, residential hostels, a residential home or from premises forming part of a university, school or other educational establishment or forming part of a hospital or nursing home. (41-43)

The Routes Out of Prison Project calculates tax payer savings
A social enterprise prisoner rehabilitation scheme has announced it can save the tax payer over £180,000 per convicted offender.

The Routes Out of Prison Project helps ex-convicted offenders back into society and has already helped to reduce reoffending, increase employment and reconnect families. The Wise Group, which has been piloting the project, employs life coaches with a personal history of offending, to help ex-offenders acquire the skills they need to rejoin society.
The group has calculated that the public cost of maintaining ex-convicted offenders on benefits or those going back through the courts and prison system can be as high as £187,000 a year. By contrast the project costs on average £1,200 per client.

Contact Aileen McLaughlan 07747 770 635
aileen_mclaughlan@thewisegroup.co.uk

BEST (Benefiting the Economy and Society Through) Procurement (East Midlands)
BEST Procurement aims to improve the correlation between public sector expenditure and public benefit, positioning social enterprise as a key delivery vehicle in achieving this goal. It focuses on social enterprise because of the potential to contribute to improved labour market equality through challenging and enhancing standard labour market practices and delivering services in an inclusive way.

Its objectives are to assist social enterprises in developing their capacity as suppliers for the public sector. To
provide public sector agencies with the opportunity to test innovative approaches towards achieving broader public benefit through mainstream expenditure. To act as a clearing house for market intelligence on public sector demand and the supply of sustainable business solutions in the East Midlands, enabling social enterprises and public sector agencies to identify relevant opportunities
http://www.equal-works.com/DPDetail.aspx?
ety=e4abb448-28a4-4a11-8a08-5d81f5ef5803

CRN UK AGM & Board of Trustees
Many thanks to all members who either attended the CRN UK AGM on 30 October or returned their proxy vote form. Minutes from the AGM will be with you in the next few weeks. There have been a few changes to the Board of Trustees, we would like to welcome Ken Orchard of Mid Devon Community Recycling and also thank Nick McAllistair of the Community Composting Network (who is now stepping down) for all his input to the Board during the course of the last 5 years - thank you Nick. Board Trustees otherwise remain the same with Mal Williams of Cylch and Ian Gulland of CRNS re-appointed.

Board of Trustees 2007 - 2008:

Lucy Danger, EMERGE Recycling – Chair
Iain Gulland, CRNS – Vice Chair
Mal Williams, Cylch – Treasurer
Mike Croxford, Torfaen Cleanstream Recycling Ltd, Cleanstream Groups CIC - Company Secretary
Jim McLaughlin, Barnsley Community Recycling
Worku Lakew, Tower Hamlets Community Recycling Consortium
Andy Bond, ECT Recycling
Andy Cunningham, Resource Futures
Cat Pearson, Seagulls Re-Use Ltd
Ken Orchard, Mid Devon Community Recycling

CRN UK Website Case Studies
At CRN UK we are always keen to know about your great work, innovative projects and examples of the way you run your organisation. We would like to have some new & up to date case studies on the CRN UK website to provide inspiration to potential groups and to keep you informed of what other members are doing.

If you would be interested in sharing this information with visitors to the website, or if you don’t have a website of your own and would like to have a page dedicated to your organisation, please complete the form available on this link: www.crn.org.uk/about/casestudyrequestform.doc and email it to Lizzy at info@crn.org.uk.

We look forward to learning what you are doing.

Every Action Counts Update
You should now have received your copy of What Happens When Every Action Counts booklet. This publication is available to download from the EAC website.
Visit www.everyactioncounts.org.uk/guides/whathappenswhenv1.pdf .

A second publication is also available on the Every Action Counts website which provides guidance and tips on minimising your community buildings’ impact on climate change. With checklists and examples of easy actions, this publication will also be handy for your work space or office – Your Community Building Counts can be downloaded from www.everyactioncounts.org.uk/guides/yourcommunitybuildingv1.pdf .

And finally, congratulations to Friends of St Nicholas Fields who have won the £250 towards training for the organisation and to Magpie Recycling for clinching the second prize of a selection of fairtrade refreshments for staff. They have both logged on to the Every Action Counts website and registered under the CRN UK. They, along with other organisations who have registered, will now be able to access guidance on actions to reduce their impact on climate change. Thanks to everyone who took part.

Funding and latest Report updates
Don’t forget to keep yourself updated on the latest funding information – including the WRAP funding for business waste collections, by visiting the funding section of this newsletter. Visit Consultations and Reports to find out about the latest Health & safety Report and Municipal Waste Management Statistics.

Companies Act changes
There are a number of provisions that came into force on 1st October 2007 in relation to the Companies Act 2006, the key ones affecting Company’s limited by Guarantee relate to the duties of directors and to the resolutions and meetings of a company.  For example there are changes to the notice period for all general meetings of a company; members have a new statutory right to appoint a proxy to act on their behalf at meetings etc
It is always advisable to seek professional legal advice on all matters relating to company law, but you may like to look at an overview of some of these changes on the links below (any advice given should not be regarded as legally binding)
http://www.dsc.org.uk/charityexchange/legaleyes1007.htm
http://www.berr.gov.uk/bbf/co-act-2006/faq%20Act%202006/page38139.html

Health and Safety CD
Through European Social Funding (ESF), EU Skills working in partnership with the Environmental Services Association (ESA) and other waste management organisations has developed an interactive health and safety
CD, 'A Day in the Life of a Collection Operative'. This CD is aimed at raising awareness of the hazards that a Collection Operative faces, and also providing advice on the safe way to work.  The CD uses photographic
stills, video clips and hazard spotting exercises in order to provide a varied programme designed to raise awareness of the importance of health and safety.

This CD would be of particular interest to members operating kerbside collections. The CD takes approximately one hour to complete and can be used as an induction tool for new/agency staff, or as a refresher for existing staff.

Changes to National Minimum Wages
Businesses are being advised to prepare for changes in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) to make sure they do not fall foul of HMRC inspections. From October 1st a new band of pay rates for the NMW will come into force and businesses need to make sure that their payroll systems are ready to implement the changes. Some of the changes include:

Adult rate (workers aged 22 and over) will increase to £5.52.
Development rate for 18-21 year olds will increase to £4.60.
Development rate for 16-17 year olds will increase to £3.40

For legal requirements and further information visit:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/pay/
national-minimum-wage/index.html

WRAP Recycle at Work advisors
Recycle at Work Advisers are being recruited across England to provide one to one support to SMEs to help them recycle more materials. The Recycle at Work Advisers can provide help to:

· Design and set up in-house recycling systems including record keeping and administration
· Store and segregate materials including practical advice and information on what happens to the material when it is recycled
· Understand the environmental and cost benefits of recycling including understanding waste contracts
· Find appropriate recycling services.

Why not introduce yourself to your regional advisor and let them know you are out there delivering a service?

http://www.wrap.org.uk/businesses/
start_recycling_at_work/meet_the.html

Recycle Now
Recycle Now's Schools Programme provides a range of materials and support to help you establish and promote effective and sustainable recycling schemes in schools, they are also delivering recycling in schools training courses. Recycle Now has put together a seasonal press pack to help you get started with your Christmas preparations and help you plan an effective Christmas PR campaign

  http://www.recyclenowpartners.org.uk/

CRED

The business support that CRN's CRED Business Support Team has been providing to CRED funded projects came to a close on 28 September 2007.   We would like to remind all organisations and projects that

the Community Waste Information Centre at http://www.communitywaste.org.uk still offers many links to information about everything from running / expanding / closing your project to waste regulations and partnership working.

Charity changes
If you are a charity or wishing to become a charity it is important that you update yourself on the changes presently taking place and planned for the future with regard to charity status and operation.

There are many proposed changes and we would recommend that you carry out some further research to prepare yourselves for those that are likely to have an effect on your organisation. For example from January 2008, after a consultation period during 2007, the 'public benefit' role of ALL charities is to be reviewed. All charities with incomes over £10,000 will be required to submit returns showing the extent of the public benefit they demonstrate.

From January 2008 charities will have the power to pay trustees in very limited circumstances, subject to certain safeguards. From January 2008 Company Limited by Guarantee is to be phased out as the way in which charities become incorporated and replaced by Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIC), existing charities requiring limited liability can convert to a CIC and all new charities will have this structure. These are just a few examples, further reading is highly recommended.

Links to the information you should need are available from this website link which also includes information about charity law reform in Scotland & Northern Ireland:

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/
law_and_regulation/charities_act_2006/

There are limited hard copy stocks of the guide to the charities phone 0845 015 0010 to order and quote URN 07/Z2

Training delivery changes
Is your organisation delivering training? Major reforms are coming into force from 1 September 2007 and there will be n ew requirements for teachers, trainers, tutors and lecturers. New initial teacher training, requirements for continuing professional development and registration of all teachers, trainers, tutors and lecturers with the Institute for Learning (IfL) are some of the changes to take place.

The White Paper 'Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances' sets out the Government's commitment to have a well qualified and professional workforce across colleges and LSC (Learning Skills Council)-funded providers.

http://www.lifelonglearninguk.org/roadmap/index.html

Compost Doctors programme
The SME Compost Doctors programme is a Defra BREW funded pilot programme that aims to investigate the options for on-site composting of kitchen food waste. The programme received finding in year 2006/07 and has been successful in obtaining further funding for this year to continue monitoring the amounts of food waste composted on the projects.

The Compost Doctors advise on and assist in installing composting equipment in the grounds of catering establishments. They are working with these establishments to support the staff in setting up kitchen procedures to facilitate the separation of food waste. Having set up, staff are then trained in using the composting system and are supported by the Compost Doctor.

Contact Lizzy info@crn.org.uk .

MEMBERS QUESTIONS

Office Collection vehicle advice?
Paperchain would like to speak to any other members who may be able to advise or share their wisdom and experience on specialised collection vehicles for office collections, specifically looking at small models to service their city centre customers. Please do get in contact with Jenny Salmon at Paperchain if you can advise.

Contact: Jenny Salmon 01392 490255 *****